Ending 2019.

Nature-wise, it was an odd year for us. Personally, I ruined it with my broken arm and later my pneumonia. But we also had family matters, crappy weather and EEE to contend with, giving us a lot less time in the field than usual. But we always enjoy any time we can out and see animals and we did see a number of wonderful creatures this year.

On December 23rd, Andrea had work but I was off. She urged me to take advantage of the warm (50°) and sunny day and take a peek at the dens. I did, though when I got there, it was still super icy and I doubted I'd have any luck.

But never doubt the tenacity of a snake...

This was a big, beefy female Ribbon Snake down in the Valley, stretched out on the ice. She has a stub tail and a few scars and might have been looking for some extra Vitamin D for her winter. I wonder if this is Robles, who we'd seen a few years ago at a different den site. "He" had plenty of scars and a tail ready to go.


While photographing her, I looked down and this feisty little Garter was actually striking at me!

Easy, cowboy... save enough energy to make it back underground!

Obviously, I worried all night that they didn't get back to their hibernaculums before freezing to death. Andrea had the following day off, so we went back and they were both gone. Either they returned to their winter beds or they froze and were eaten. Nobody was out that day.

Saturday, December 28th, it was sunny again though the wind was pretty stiff and it kept the temps low. We went to peek anyway, thinking there might be someone up. I'm very happy to report that our Ribbon friend was back in the sun of the Valley, getting as much vitamin D as she could.

I can't see any obvious injuries on her but her scars prove that she knows what she's doing, so I feel good about her survival. Could it be Robles? At any rate, I'm happy that Andrea got to see her.

Back behind the Valley, there are hills that get a lot of sun. I'd never inspected them before; I'd only been back to that spot to "look for Wood Frogs" but I decided to scan the terrain. There, about 10 feet up the hill, hidden but still in the sun, was a beautiful Northern Water Snake!

That was a hell of a nice way to end the year. I mean, this blog post has more snake species in it than most of my summer ones! That Nerodia face makes me so happy.

So 2019 is all but over, mercifully. I end with 101 birds (kind of a let down after my amazing start) and a few new lifers. We had many good days, saw the Boston lizards, finally got an EDB and got to see a few friends. Turtle Season was short and not many came in, which we'll say is a good thing.

May 2020 be wonderful for everyone.